I can see both sides of it, Mike.

Rich receives how many of these same questions every day? Eventually anybody would get tired of it, and the quickest and easiest thing is to link them to the sticky. If they can't read and understand it then it's their tough luck.

The dude with the question sees none of the other PM's and emails, he only has one question that could be simple answered. Why can't Rich just answer the question?

I'm sure we could all be a little more gracious to one another.

So pointing someone to an existing thread about an issue that concerns them and FULLY answers their questions about it is condescending in your eyes?

Biased much, Mike?

Still have that chip on your shoulder about me since our head bumping a while back, eh?

LOL!! I was just thinking the EXACT same thing! LOL!!! He just was looking for an excuse to make himself feel better about being cheap and whiney.

On topic~ Thank you moderators for linking me to the answer to my stupid questions over the years. This one I actually noticed on my own~ but I know I've been the annoying pm with a stupid question plenty of times. Thanks

HAHAHA:rofl:, You are sooo right Rich!

I think Rich has a complete lack of respect for sleeping bears. That is all.

Pretty much, yeah.
He's been a member here for over two years, and aside from a few posts on the BOI his only activity was in the classifieds. If he were going to become a contributing member, he would have done so already.
Quite often when people get irritated they like to say I WAS going to give you money, but I'm not now. That's rarely the case. They just like to throw that in in an attempt to make you think your actions has cost you something.
He was never going to be a contributing member regardless. Not that that makes any difference at all in how the situation was handled, I have no doubt that Rich would have responded the same way to anyone, but nothing said caused him to decide not to be a contributing member, he wasn't considering it to begin with.

Sometimes I completely ignore PMs when they're of a nature that I simply cannot respond without being an ass. I don't want to come across that way to any member, paying or not, so I elect to not respond at all. You'd be amazed at some of the things the mods get asked.
I've received a fair number of PMs regarding this issue as well, and i have replied in a similar fashion. So far everyone who has inquired has apparently been able to comprehend the situation after reading the post, since I haven't heard from them further.
He was directed to a complete discussion about the issue he had questions about, it's no one's fault but his if he refuses to read even the first post and demands to be spoon fed the information.

Dont know the Op or his age. But in his original post he comes across like a whiney little boy. Sounds like mommy & daddy babied him his whole life. Grow up dude! If Richs' reply was to harsh for you then you've got a real eye opener comig when you hit the real world.

No...pointing to an existing thread is not condescending. The way in which you do it is.

I don't think I'm biased...actually, I'm probably less biased than most posting on this thread.

No chip on my shoulder...we bumped heads and I walked away for a little while. I did so because of the way you responded to me and to others when called out on what is considered by many to be an irresponsible practice. You still treat people in the same manner....just because I notice it doesn't mean I have a chip on my shoulder.

So that every time this guy, or someone else, has a question that has been clearly posted on the boards for everyone to see? Why reward someone for their inability to follow simple rules. The mods have a lot more to worry about than answering questions over and over that have already been answered in a thread.

And Rich didn't become short with him until after it was obvious that the OP wasn't going to take the time to read the link given to him. If he didn't understand it, he shouldn't have been rude and should have said "I'm sorry, but i'm having a hard time understanding that thread." From what I'm seeing, he was rude first, and expected the mod to kiss his butt because he graces this site with his presence.

Also, why in the world would you expect "better" service as a contributing member? Maybe more respect because you're showing the forums that you support what fauna does for us. But I'm pretty sure if a contributing member had sent the same question to the moderator, they would have received the exact same, perfectly acceptable response.

Sorry, meant to say:
So that every time this guy, or someone else, has a question that has been clearly posted on the boards for everyone to see, the moderators can repeat the answer over and over? They would never have time for anything else. That's why they post those public announcements.

sorry for the double post